It's A Start
by Victory to the Shard
Summary: Well, isn't this familiar?... or not.
1. Fragment 1

The night sky was clear, the weather calm. Then nine balls of light came roaring out of the sky, bound towards the Leaf Village.

One ball of light landed soundlessly in the Uchiha district. A talented older brother narrowed his eyes at his sleeping sibling, wondering what advantage his foolish little brother would gain from this event.

One ball of light brightened up a dreary neighborhood for a few brief moments. ANBU was unable to find any sign of its arrival, though they did find the demon brat complaining about something stupid, as usual.

One ball of light struck a nice part of town. A little girl turned over in her sleep, her dreams suddenly becoming strange.

Three balls of light struck clan compounds. The Inuzuka were initially alarmed, but calmed once they determined nothing had happened, going back to sleep. The Aburame clan performed a thorough search, compiled the results in a fifty-four page report, and sent it to the Hokage's Tower, irritated when they realized that, impossibly, nothing had happened. The Hyuuga, with their all-seeing eyes, increased their expectations of the clan heir.

The remaining three balls of light impacted nearby each other, and three family friends wondered what had touched them. Only one of them, though, wondered why none of them wanted to tell the grownups.

Unbenownst to any citizen of Konoha, a tenth ball, dark in coloration and leaking killer intent, struck with an earthshattering impact far, far away.

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"Not now.

Four or five.

Because I'm training.

Yeah, with Sakura.

Hey, that was a cheap trick!

No, nothing.

You think I'm telling _you_? I might as well just say it to her face!

No way.

No.

Not even a little.

Can't you bother Naruto or something?

Same as before. Four or five.

Look, this was your idea in the first place, so shut it.

Then find something to do.

That _isn't_ bothering me.

Seriously. Last chance. Leave me alone or I'll do it.

I warned you!"

And that's when Ino started singing. Badly.

Asuma had initially been very pleased when he had met his genin team. Ino-Shika-Cho was nothing to laugh at, and he'd been picked to mentor the latest generation. Things had, amazingly, gotten even better from there. The Nara kid was a tactical genius, invaluable in any shinobi, and with great potential as a leader. Only real obstacle was getting the boy motivated enough to really try... and Asuma was confident that would come on its own. Chouji, on the other hand, was plenty motivated, and even if he wasn't real big on training with the team, from the way he talked Asuma was fairly confident that there was some kind of family training going on there. Besides, calories were an essential part of several Akimichi combat techniques, and burning them in intense physical training would be counterproductive. So he wasn't too bothered by the kid's tendency to eat and watch rather than do jumping jacks, or spar, or anything else physically intense. Ino... well, she was a bit too interested in her social life, and her voice could really grate when she was trying, but she was far from a complete write-off. There was of course her clan jutsu, but more importantly her taijutsu was actually exceptional for an academy graduate, let alone a kunoichi. She also trained on her own quite a lot, and was always demanding spars with her sensei... him, obviously. If nothing else, she was surprisingly enthusiastic.

Even so, the more time he spent mentoring these three, the more convinced Asuma became that there was something... _wrong_. With them. Shikamaru usually spent his days lazing about, watching clouds and playing games, outside of the D-ranked missions, where he still tended to avoid undue effort. But sometimes he would start acting very strangely. Vanishing into a library and intently reading all kinds of strange books for hours at a time. Sparring with Ino in a bizarre, aggressive style reliant upon throwing her off balance, as opposed to his usual defensive style that waited for a hole to form in her attack. And the way he talked... it distantly reminded Asuma of Itachi. Which was worrisome in its own right.

Chouji was jovial. Except when he wasn't. The contrast was creepy, and if there was a pattern, it was invisible to Asuma.

Ino was the most surreal of all. At first he'd thought she hadn't gotten over that 'imaginary friend' thing, which was pretty innocent. A bit dangerous, potentially, but innocent. Just being a ninja didn't stop one from acting like a child, and he hadn't worried particularly. Certainly, he'd made sure to talk with her about what was and was not appropriate on a battlefield, but this was standard procedure when dealing with young genin that were less 'ninja' and more 'child' in psychology. She'd actually seemed insulted. However, it had quickly become evident that this was no ordinary imaginary friend situation. She spontanously learned existing jutsu, and claimed that this friend of hers had taught her. She displayed knowledge of the activities of others she should've had no way of knowing. First he'd thought it was coincidence. Then he'd suspected she was setting these things up deliberately. From there he'd worried that she was a spy, though he hadn't been able to figure out how that would work. Ultimately he'd given up in exasperation and concluded that whatever was going on, it was completely over his head. On top of all that, she claimed that several of her behaviors were things she'd learned from this friend, such as her work ethic when it came to training.

Asuma wasn't sure which possibility was more worrisome: That she was insane and _still_ doing these things, or that her 'imaginary' friend was **real**.

Naturally, he'd talked with Kurenai about his genin team's oddities. He'd been startled, and quite concerned, when she related stories of weirdness from her team alarmingly similar to his own. Shino was sufficiently hard to read that Kurenai was reserving judgement for the moment, but the other two members of her team were not nearly so opaque. Kiba talked to himself a lot. Kurenai had quite naturally assumed he was talking with Akamaru, at least until she realized that it wasn't that unusual for Kiba to go on as though he'd gotten a response when Akamaru hadn't barked, whimpered, or even been _awake!_ This made no sense. He had a constant companion in the dog, one he could speak to even, so there was no motivation for creating an imaginary friend, and yet he hadn't suffered the kind of trauma that cracked people. Why would he be talking to himself? It was a mystery, and it was well-known amongst ninja that mysteries were dangerous things.

Hinata was even more baffling. Most of the time she was shy, reserved, and sorely lacking in confidence. While Kurenai wasn't happy with this, it at least fit with her family history. Yet, at other times she seemed almost like an entirely different person. A cold one that had no problems seriously hurting others. Hinata had once even broken a chuunin's nose when he'd called Naruto a 'demon brat' to her face! While Hinata admired Naruto greatly, she would never normally _attack_ someone over name calling, and even if she did, she would at least use Gentle Fist to do so. Not the direct punch to the face she _had_ employed against the unfortunate chuunin. Truth be told, the blow had probably only hit due to the shock of a Hyuuga using such brute methods. Certainly, it was the only reason Kurenai hadn't been able to stop the blow from landing. It had caught her off guard, especially from sweet gentle Hinata. Frankly, Kurenai was at a loss, and this worried Asuma. She may have been junior when it came to jounin, but she was neither a fool nor an idiot, and she had far more experience at dealing with people than Asuma did.

Approaching Kakashi was a no-brainer at that point. He was smart, experienced, easy to find (The memorial stone doesn't move), and if Team Seven was acting strangely too, this might provide the essential information to explain the situation.

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"Mmm? Well, I guess they _did_ figure out the bell test pretty quickly. Their reports say they get along pretty well, though.

Talking to themselves?... well, Itachi did quite a number on Sasuke. I suppose it's to be expected that he needs a little help.

Sakura trains hard. She spars with the Yamanaka girl, mmm, Ino, wasn't it? Yes, she trains quite hard. Anytime she isn't busy, she makes work. It's an admirable quality, in a shinobi.

Well, yes, it's unusual in kunoichi, but Yuuhi-san here is dedicated, yes?

A... what?

Mmmm... no, I never had one.

No apologies neccessary. It's fine. Why were you asking?

Suspicious activity?... not that I've noticed. They surprised me a bit, I suppose.

Mmm?

Well... they learn things faster than I expect, mostly.

Skills? Well, Naruto did ask me to teach him Shadow Clone.

Yeah, I did. He has more chakra than I do, it's not particularly dangerous to him. Knows it, too, or else I would've refused outright.

I really should be going now. Is there some reason you're so curious about my genin team?

Oh really? My. That _is_ interesting.

Well... I suppose they might be really bad spies. Kind of young, but not unheard of.

She did _that_? Huh.

... proof? No. Bad day, probably. Pretty typical of clan heirs.

... I'll keep that in mind, thank you."

Then Kakashi left.

He really was rather curious as to why they were so concerned. Certainly, his students had displayed patience, maturity, and ability above and beyond what was typical of anyone their age. As yet they hadn't tried to demand a higher-ranked mission (Though Naruto and Sakura had held themselves in check only barely a couple of times), they were able to cope with the friction that naturally occured when you put a group of people together whom have nothing in common and demand they work together, and they had proved terribly creative at solving the D-rank missions efficiently. But then, he'd failed every other team ever assigned to him, which was quite a few. That these three were unusual was to be expected. As yet, the only thing he could regard with any level of suspicion was Naruto's request to be taught the Shadow Clone technique, which was certainly unusual from a genin, but not really suspicious. Shadow Clone was a forbidden technique because of the danger to the user, though certainly it was preferable that it not land in enemy hands.

Well, there were other, smaller things. Sasuke's Sharingan, for instance, but then, nobody really knew what had gone down when Itachi had slaughtered the clan. Nobody but those two. Admittedly, Kakashi was fairly certain having all three tomoe in both eyes was not normal at that age, but honestly, he was no Uchiha, and had never really had the chance to get information on the Sharingan, outside of his personal experiences. And just because it went down one way for himself didn't mean that was the norm for Uchiha in general. So he hadn't worried too much about it. Not for a while, anyway. At first he'd been concerned, but he'd also been under the impression Sasuke was trying to _hide_ the fact that his Sharingan was already developed, which had quickly proved to be untrue. The genin was perfectly willing to reveal it to Kakashi, he just seemed unwilling to use it casually. Though why that was the case was a mystery Kakashi had yet to solve. Maybe it used too much chakra...

Honestly, though, he was far more interested in their surprising initiative. Most genin straight out the academy, at least in his limited experience, were prone to waiting for someone to tell them what to do. These three had acquired a habit of training themselves while waiting for him to show up. He'd been so impressed that he'd started giving them a few training excercises, not that he'd framed it that way. Nor had he quit being late. His cute little genin hadn't impressed him _that_ much... not yet. However, for their patience, and diligence, he had a special reward planned for them today. It was terribly obvious what the three of them wanted, and he'd decided to give it to them. It would also give him more information about them, though he had no intention of telling them that. No, the C-Rank mission was a gift. A reward for all their hard work. And that was all they would know it as.

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Sarutobi had been surprisingly cooperative, all things considered.

"Very well, very well. A C-rank mission it is.

I know I have it somewhere...

Ah, here it is. A basic escort mission to the Wave Country. The client wants protection against bandits and the like.

Ha! Oh, no, nothing like that. The client is a bridgebuilder by the name of Tazuna.

Ah, that would be him now."

The team's initial impression of the man had been poor. Even their jounin-sensei, experienced at dealing with civilians and their unrealistic ideas about ninja, had quickly grown weary of the man's whining and worrying. (Though this whinging was quietly noted as increasingly suspicious, when the man remained concerned even after learning that the team included a jounin) Tazuna had not helped his case any by continuously making disparaging remarks about how the team smelled, dressed, and talked, apparently finding nothing good in any of them. The ninja had only grown more irritated with him when the two Mist-nin had ambushed them. Though they had been disposed of quickly and with a minimum of harm, it was quite obvious that the two missing-nin had been after Tazuna in specific, and it was easy to deduce from there that the man was lying about the level of danger he expected. Naturally, he had an explanation (And a guilt trip) ready, and it was even a pretty good reason.

This left the question of whether to nobly continue the mission in spite of the adverse circumstances, or to abandon a man in his time of need. Or so Tazuna put it.

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Tazuna wasn't really sure what to think of this whole thing. The ninja had certainly proved that they weren't complete push-overs, and so he was kind of optimistic. But then, he was pretty sure they were completely crazy. Actually, the only reason he wasn't completely certain his death was imminent was because the adult had seemed similarly baffled when the three kids had started talking it over not only amongst themselves, but apparently also to _thin air_. So maybe the jounin was sane. He had a thread of hope to draw upon, anyway, and that was certainly better than nothing, right? Right?

Still. Three loonies were guarding him. They certainly _seemed_ competent enough. But if nothing else, this trip was teaching him that things were not always as they seemed. A puddle of water had turned out to be a pair of ninja in hiding. Three kids had proven more than a match for those two ninja. The guy with a giant sword that came later had _looked_ like an unwieldy fighter, but had fought with such speed and agility (Not to mention strength and cunning) that it left Tazuna feeling every year of his life in his old bones. When Zabuza been killed by some _other_ ninja, it had turned out to be a trick to _save_ his life, not end it. And that wasn't even getting into all the bizarre, confusing, and downright impossible things everyone had done. Honestly, if he hadn't experienced it himself, he would never have believed any of it.

At least they'd made it to the village alright. Work on the bridge could continue, and the Wave could finally be free...

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A week later, Zabuza's heart ruptured. Nearly fifty minutes later the last bit of his brain finally died of oxygen deprivation, though he was functionally dead for most purposes the instant his heart failed, his brain unable to command his body, and slowly losing the ability to proccess incoming data. Haku died with a shard of ice lodged in his left eye, fatally damaging his brain, having commit suicide over his failure to save his beloved master from a simple genin of the Leaf. Gatou didn't die, but then, he never did leave the asylum after his incarceration, either. The rag-tag band of non-ninja mercenaries he'd hired to betray Zabuza and Haku were killed in a glorious blaze of lightning when ten Cloud ninja arrived with a thunderclap. The Cloud ninja were quick to demand that the three genin be turned over to them, though they were perfectly willing to let the jounin-sensei leave quietly. All they wanted were the genin. Nothing else.

Being a Leaf ninja, the jounin was naturally unwilling to sacrifice three comrades just to save their own life, and flatly refused this offer, instead preparing for battle, putting injuries and chakra exhaustion to the back of the mind. The genin readied themselves for the fight of their lives, having learned that none of their ten opponents were below high chuunin. None of the Leaf ninja really expected to get out of this alive, or even to significantly hurt the Cloud forces arrayed against them, but that didn't meant they wouldn't try.


	2. Fragment 2

Hinata was _tired_. The mission had been hard, harder than it had any right to be, at least according to Kurenai-sensei, and Hinata wanted nothing more than to find a nice rock to collapse on for the next twenty-four hours. It wouldn't be so bad if anyone else on the team was as tired as she was right now, it would be perfectly reasonable for her to be panting in exhaustion if her teammates weren't much better, right? Not that Father would accept that excuse any better than anything else she'd ever told him, but it would make _her_ feel better, at least. But no, Kiba-kun was standing strong and confident, as always, Akamaru _not_ riding around in his coat, while Shino just... stood there, not even sweating under his coat. Admittedly, he let his bugs do most of his fighting for him, while Hinata fought with a rigorous form of taijutsu, as their friend was always reminding her, but it still left her feeling pathetic to be so tired when it was so obvious Shino could literally keep going for _hours_. Even Kurenai-sensei was standing straight and tall, seemingly unaffected by the difficult fight they'd just been in. Then again, it was terribly obvious to Hinata's eyes that Kurenai-sensei's chakra system was badly strained, and several major muscles would likely tear if she engaged in anything beyond light excercise.

OK, so maybe it wasn't so bad that she was dripping sweat so badly her coat looked like she'd just come out of rain, or that she was trembling in physical exhaustion, or that her eyes kept shutting almost of their own accord. Kiba-kun had looked much, much worse than her before he'd taken a soldier pill, actually, and Akamaru had been all but dead on his feet before getting his own pill. But still...!

Father (And Neji-niisan, for that matter) was always pressing into her the idea of the superiority of the Hyuuga bloodline, that they had not only superior eyes, but also clearer minds, stronger bodies, and greater spirits. That her teammates, that even her jounin-sensei seemed ready to fall apart at a moment's notice, had no bearing upon her. Their condition was nothing. She was Hyuuga. She was better, and must be held to a higher standard.

It was as simple as that.

That's what Father would say.

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Tazuna was amazed, really. The first time this Zabuza fellow had come along and tried to kill him, he'd seen some amazing things done, not just by the adults but even the little kids. He'd been so certain that nothing would ever top that experience for sheer weirdness and impossibility, and yet this second time was even nuttier. And that was just out of what he could _see_, which really wasn't much in this super-dense mist. He had no doubts that if the things he could see were impossible, than the things blocked from his sight had to be _inconceivable._ Or at least super-amazing.

They'd won. He really hadn't expected that. He'd been fully prepared to give his life for this bridge, for his country, his people, and he'd dearly hoped it would eventually be completed, but he had honestly expected to be dead before that happened. Super-dead, even. So this was not only everything he had planned for, not only everything he had hoped for, but even more than that, it was everything he could've possibly _asked_ for! And it didn't stop there, no, Gatou had shown his super-ugly face, revealed his plan to betray the two assassins (Who were very, very dead, actually), and after he'd proven beyond a shadow of a doubt that he was just as bad as Tazuna had believed, the eldest ninja in the group had done something that left the corporate pig screaming and clawing at his face! It wasn't death, but curling into a whimpering ball of pain was just as good in Tazuna's book, and it just got better when the ninja had explained that Gatou would likely remain this way forever! A hellish existence for a demon of a man. Fitting.

Of course, then those thugs had declared their desire to loot the village, rape the women, and kill everyone there, and that was just been the perfect way to ruin everything right when he was feeling super-good about this whole thing.

Then there'd been the lightning, and Tazuna had given up entirely on following this shinobi crap.

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Inhumanly perceptive senses picked up minute details of the Cloud shinobi whom desired him and his two teammates. Two of the enemy were clutching scrolls leaking a strange, dark chakra, and each held a kunai in a position where it would be easy to cut their own thumbs ever so slightly. That these were some sort of summoning contract was relatively easy to deduce, but the key question was _what_ they would summon. Some summons were extremely dangerous in their own right. Others operated in specialized roles, such as tracking or transport. Most likely, whatever the Cloud intended to summon would excel in capture, but that assumed that their demand was for _live_ genin. Though this seemed the most likely possibility, given the presence of a highly desireable bloodline on the team, the phrasing of the statement was sufficiently ambigious that it would not do to discount the possibility of lethal intentions. The possibility of being incorrect was too high, and the consequences too dire, for such action.

So instead he focused upon gathering intel on their equipment while sensei expertly stalled, initially pretending to consider the offer (Which was met with horror and outrage, respectively, from the kunoichi and the loud one), and then falling back on bluffing, specifically about how dangerous the four of them were. The two ninja with the scrolls were rather lightly armed, with nothing but a few kunai hidden upon their personages, and not very well either. Their chakra levels were surprisingly high, but that was not always an indicator of combat skill, obviously. Four of the other Cloud-nin were armed to the teeth, literally packed so full of kunai, shuriken, senbon, and weapons he didn't even recognize that they were obviously intending to stand back, hurling lethal weapons into the fray opportunistically. They were marked for close combat maneuvers. Three of the other four foes carried little in the way of combat gear, outside of the typical number of kunai and shuriken, but were blatantly gathering chakra to their hands. Light armor was discretely hidden underneath their flak jackets, and the bulging muscles on their bodies were the final clue. They were obviously close-range ninjutsu/taijutsu specialists, and were marked for long-range combat.

The final one appeared to be the team leader, having called out the demands, threats, and general unpleasantness from the beginning while the others were largely quiet, other than the occasional snide remark. This one, rather unfortunately, appeared to be quite the exceptional kunoichi, obviously equipped for both short-and-long-range combat, wielding a short, thin sword with the ease of great experience and carrying quite a few shuriken. More disturbingly, several of the shuriken had chakra-laden tags attached to them, and the sword was channeling chakra, suggesting that there was more to this foe's sword-fighting technique than meets the eye. They also carried several small scrolls with them, easily missed, though the purpose was difficult to discern. Most likely some of them were simple storage scrolls for supplies, as would be expected of a squad deep in enemy territory for a long, or at least unknown, period of time, but it was virtually impossible to say what they might do. They might even do nothing at all, just information scrolls, but it would be exceedingly easy to make a feint with one regardless, doubly so given that sometimes such scrolls were laden with chakra to hide, or erase, their information should they fall in enemy hands.

This one was marked as extremely dangerous.

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Hinata knew she shouldn't lean so heavily on others, certainly not on her friends who already did so much for her, but she inevitably found herself doing so anyway, and it frustrated her so. She didn't want to be weak, no matter what Father may say in his worst moods, and it was weak to rely upon others to accomplish something. It was perfectly fine for lesser shinobi to rely upon 'teamwork' to accomplish their mission, but a Hyuuga was better than that. A Hyuuga stood alone, defeating foes with but a few precise releases of chakra, and a minimum of motion, where other shinobi hurled kunai after kunai, jutsu upon jutsu, and fist followed by fist with no grace, no efficiency. To be unable to accomplish so simple a task without her friend's help... no, to be so thoroughly weak that it fell to them entirely to save the day... this was unacceptable. It was not the Hyuuga way.

And yet she found herself allowing that dark other to express itself through her.

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Sora, for that was the Cloud Kunoichi's name, considered herself a very good judge of character. It was, truth be told, her best asset in a fight, and had been the thing that allowed her to reach special jounin, for though she had a solid skill set, easily capable of defeating a good chuunin on the basis of talent alone, she simply lacked what it took to overwhelm the highest of ninja on ability. She lacked the chakra reserves, the chakra control, the jutsu repertoire, and even the physical conditioning to go toe-to-toe with a jounin. No, she won against 'greater' foes not by overwhelming them with powerful techniques, superior physical ability, or even a more intelligent mind, but rather by setting them off-balance psychologically. Perhaps she would've done better in the Cloud's own Torture and Interrogation division, but then, perhaps not. She had never been very good at avoiding emotional attachment, an important skill when one spent days, weeks, sometimes months conversing with the same person, a person you were trying to break. She had actually sworn off infiltration missions, not out of any sense of female empowerment, but because she felt (As did the psych specialist she spoke with) that she would likely break if forced to interact extensively with people she was the enemy of. Assassinating a good friend wasn't in her character.

It had been easy to see that the jounin was playing for time, and meant not a word said. They were obviously a fairly loyal, emotional person, typical of Leaf ninja, and probably viewed their genin as something like family. Certainly, the position they held was a classic unconcious guard position, with the maximum amount of their body blocking the path to the genin, arms raised to the chest to protect vital organs, and back held straight to appear taller. Whether they even realized they were doing it was beside the point. Sora allowed it, however, knowing that the scrolls Hebi (what kind of parents named a kid 'snake', anyway?) and Kagemaru were carrying would only yield better results given more time. Time was on her side, not the Leaf-nin's.

The quiet kid had been a bit harder to get a read on, but he was obviously analytical, though not neccessarily patient, studying the group intently in what he obviously thought was a sneaky manner. For a genin, it wasn't even half-bad, but he wasn't trying to fool a civilian, or even a fellow genin. Sora was willing to bet he would identify the major flaws in her team (Why the Raikage had insisted on these pathetic morons was beyond her...), and move to exploit them quickly. She made a mental note to get him as soon as the jounin was down. He would probably be the most dangerous of the bunch, especially given how little she could see of his arsenal, the way his clothes covered him. She assumed he was carrying a few kunai somewhere in there, but beyond that...

The loudmouth was probably at least competent as a fighter, in the technical sense of physical ability, but almost certainly lacking tactical and strategic ability. He was rather blatantly restraining himself from just charging ahead and 'pummelling' (As he called it) her squad, and with an attitude like that, Sora seriously doubted that he'd given any real thought to a plan. Oh, he'd probably noticed the limitations of her teammates, but putting that together into an actual plan?... not so much. He also had a rather unprofessional stance, even for a genin. He held himself more like an angry beast, hunched, growling, baring his teeth, etc, than a ninja prepared for battle. And what was with the stupid marks on his face? Was he trying to look cool or something?

The girl was pathetic. How she'd made it to even genin was beyond the Cloud kunoichi, given that she was obviously deathly afraid of actual combat. The little glances she kept sending her teammates' way indicated an acute inability to stand on her own two feet metaphorically, and her tendency to glance towards the empty space beside her suggested that she was desperately looking for some sort of out. Oh, how cute!... she was _mumbling_ to herself. Sora couldn't hear the words, and was not skilled enough to read the girl's lips, but she was obviously talking to herself. So she was either crazy or going religious, probably the latter. A bit late for that.

But then something truly odd happened. The girl's stance shifted, her expression turned blank, and she stopped shivering in terror.

Sora found she couldn't read the girl anymore.

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Kagemaru hated his work. He hated being a ninja, he hated that he'd made it to chuunin, he hated his fellow Cloud-nin, he hated his crappy mission pay, high likelihood of death, and dismal living conditions. He hated Sora, partly because she was better than him, partly because she rubbed that fact in his face constantly (by doing everything better than him), and partly because she was his ex-girlfriend. He hated the Raikage for sending him on this crappy mission to this crappy village in this gods-forsaken land all but owned outright by a crappy corporation. He hated his genes for giving him perfect chakra control, high chakra reserves, and a keen mind. He hated his mother, whom had patiently explained that he was a special, unique person before joining the black ops and becoming a drone. He hated his father, whom had been so proud of his son for following his father's footsteps, exactly as he had expected of the boy the day the medic-nin had informed him of the child's exceptional potential as a shinobi. He hated the Leaf for having something his village wanted, he hated his village for wanting it, he hated whatever perverse entity had created this world he lived in. He hated stupid, ignorant kids that, of all things, _hoped_.

What he _really_ hated though, hated, **hated**, was the monster that he'd signed a contract with, and the monsters that came with it.

Nonetheless, in spite of this great ball of horrible hate churning in his gut, when the four Leaf ninja moved to attack and Sora indicated it was time, Kagemaru executed his role in the plan. Even as his hate grew, his arms moved, wounding his right thumb ever so slightly and running the bloody finger across the scroll opened by his other hand. Though he hated the whole proccess, everything about it, the scroll was nonetheless slammed into the bridge with enough force to crack it, and the hated, hated words exited his mouth.

"**Summoning: Dead Soul Army**"

But what Kagemaru hated most of all was that none of it was his choice.


	3. Fragment 3

Say 'thanks' to Clockworkchaos. If he hadn't reviewed, I probably would've taken even longer than I did to finish this.

____________________________________

_**Found you.**_

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Kagemaru and Hebi exploding in the most gory, messy manner possible, skeletons remaining standing momentarily while flesh and blood sprayed the bridge's surface was _not_ a part of the plan. Or was it? _Damn _the Raikage. How was Sora to know either way without some _information_?

Of course, in the brief, brief moment of distraction, the Leaf kunoichi had already hurled half a dozen kunai while rushing straight towards Sora, and all her attention was diverted to the fight at hand.

First course of action was obviously to avoid, stop, or divert the kunai. Since the battle had so many people involved, dodging or diverting the kunai was a terrible idea: she might unknowingly dodge into other weapons, friend or foe, or run into one of the other combatants, prompting an immediate attack in all likilihood, or by avoiding them herself cause an ally to be hit. While none of these was likely to be an issue at this early stage of the combat, it was a good rule of thumb in any large battle, and, more importantly, Sora didn't so much think this through as act on the principle instantly, without any significant forethought, bringing up a kunai in each hand to block the incoming projectiles. Meanwhile, the more analytical portion of her cognitive processes was already concluding that this was maybe probably (Sora wasn't sure, being unable to read the girl was really throwing her off) a cover for the genin to close in and employ some kind of melee combat advantage, most likely exceptional taijutsu skill, but perhaps another trick entirely, such as an exploding ta-

It was at this juncture in thought that the Cloud kunoichi's eyes focused upon a scrap of white attached to one of the blocked kunai, spinning up into the air in that slow-motion manner that comes with an adrenalin rush, the kind one experiences when one is probably going to die. On one level, Sora was thinking _'what the hell? Is she trying to kill herself?'_, but on another level she was already directing her body to skip away with one foot while lashing out at the kunai in question with the other, ignoring entirely the sixth kunai that had not yet arrived when she noticed the tag, even as it thunked into her right shoulder. There was a vague sensation of pain, but she had eyes only for the tag that was burning out, about to explode, her foot wasn't going to hit it in time to get rid of it, _'shit, I'm going to die'_ and-

-it burned out without a bang. Sora was vaguely aware of the kunoichi smirking (Their first show of emotion after the unsettling shift), and cursed herself for not paying more attention (But then, they were just genin, _they shouldn't have been this clever!_), but could do little about it for the moment, having just finished the kick that wouldn't have saved her if the tag had been real and requiring _time_ to get into a proper fighting stance, as opposed to balancing on one foot, ready to be knocked on her butt if somebody sneezed in her direction, and the genin proceeded to-

... _leap away? What the hell?!_

And then Sora noticed that the kunai, the sixth one that went into her shoulder? Yeah, it had another tag.

_Oh __**come on!**_

___________________________________________

Tai liked to think of himself as a practical, down-to-earth sort of ninja, one of those cool guys that never freaks out or screws up no matter how surprised everyone else is.

He liked to think of himself like that, but really, that better described Hebi, one of the guys that exploded into gore from using a summoning jutsu. Or Sora, who exploded, period.

Tai was actually a pretty darn good ninja. In a hypothetical, technicality, 'on paper' sort of way. He could spar well, and had even beat a jounin in a friendly match a few weeks back, and he made good plans. People liked him enough to follow him (Squad leader material), and he a decent selection of jutsu for someone of his rank. He even had a couple that weren't Earth, unlike most of his buddies!

Alas, Tai had a crippling problem that made him incapable in high-level fieldwork. You see, he was what some folks call 'sensitive'. Or 'artistic'. Ninja, especially those outside the Leaf, would call him 'wimp' in polite conversation, and worse when being honest. Ordinary folks, when exposed to horrifically traumatic events in the middle of a life-and-death situation on a regular basis, have a tendency to internalize their horror and/or grief until there's a better time for them to freak out. Or forever, either way. However, Tai was not like ordinary folks. No, he had no psychological 'brakes' to stop himself from immediately turning overly emotional. To his credit, this was a problem he was aware of and had even made great strides in getting under control, otherwise he would never have gotten past genin, but he did not yet have it fully dealt with.

So when three of his teammates died spectacularly in the first six seconds of combat, where the other six Cloud chuunin continued on with nary a twitch at the fate of their comrades, Tai's head jerked in the direction of the newly-dead, a gasp erupted from his throat, and he promptly tripped over his own feet. Before he could clamp down on his emotions and get himself back under control, a kunai had planted itself straight through his left eye, provided by the quiet, dark Leaf genin.

Now, this didn't kill Tai. The kunai did not strike with enough force to penetrate all the way to the brain. It hurt like hell and there was no way he was keeping that eye, but it didn't kill him. It was, in fact, the shuriken that went through his _right_ eye that killed him. _That_ was thrown by the Leaf jounin.

________________________________________________________

Hinata still wasn't sure what she experienced when she gave up control, whether it was a dreamless sleep, the oblivion of death, or something stranger, but she did know she wasn't entirely comfortable with it. This was partly because it was unsettlingly similar to what she imagined dying to be like, but it was far more out of concern over what she'd find herself having done _this_ time upon awaking. Of the nine, she was probably the only one that really saw their friend as a mixed blessing (Ino found it annoying at times, but it wasn't the same at all), always wondering what it _really_ wanted, why it only interacted with nine specific people and _only_ those nine specific people, and worrying, always worrying that it was going to do something really _bad_. She'd had nightmares of 'waking up' to find Father's blood on her hands and his body at her feet, horrible dreams where it took her in her sleep and used her body to murder people, and worse.

Thus far she hadn't voiced her concerns to the others. She knew they would think her paranoid, or silly. They liked it. They were _friends_ with it. And they'd tell it what she thought, and... who knows what it would do?

What it... _could_ do...

_________________________________________________________

Pouring tea. He wasn't sure why he was pouring tea, he'd never really liked the stuff, but...

No.

_Release_.

Ah. Nice try, _assassin_, but you can't hope to defeat the Amazing, the Incredible, the... no, no, **no!**

_Release_.

Back on the bridge. Charging the ugly kid. Right, I remember this...

... wait, four guys dead already? Hah! No, no. Stupid Leaf-nin, why would I believe something so completely ridiculous?! You think me a fool, that I would believe your stupid illusion, one where things are going so badly for my allies? Idiocy. Arrogance. How did you reach jounin, you loser?

_Release._

There, now, we.... uh. What? It's still the same. How high level is this genjutsu?

_Release._

... what?

_Release._

No. This _can't_ be real. It...

_Release_.

... **shit.**

**__________________________________**

Ken was appalled. Two guys dead from a screwed-up summoning, the kunoichi dead from a tag, the loser dead of distraction, and now the genjutsu guy was standing there trying to dispel an illusion that wasn't there while the stupid kid came right at him some kind of screwy ninjutsu (Taijutsu?) that looked alarmingly dangerous.

That the genjutsu guy had a hole torn through gut on contact with the stupid kid suggested appearances weren't deceiving in this case.

Ken wasn't an idiot, though. He wasn't a loser like these other morons. He wasn't going to fall prey to distraction or die of confusion. He was better than that. No, he was going to pin the other boy down with senbon and kunai, try to get him to hold still long enough to catch him with his favorite Earth technique: dragging the target mostly underground. Orders were to bring the genin back alive, after all, and the Raikage was not one to put up with failure.

He'd worry about the Leaf jounin if they hadn't collapsed entirely after hitting the just-died guy with the illusion. Even so, he _release_d just to make sure there was nothing screwy going on there, and yes, nothing weird going on.

Irritatingly, the kid wasn't moving the way Ken wanted him to. He kept bouncing around, leading Ken in circles and refusing to dodge appropriately when weaponry came at concrete-cracking speeds straight towards his skull. Something was weird here, and it was hard to pin down what. Really hard. Like, 'so tired I can't think straight' hard.

It clicked, partway through this crap, that the thing that was weird was the kid _wasn't fighting back_. That made no sense. What was he expecting to do? If Ken wasn't trying to capture him, he'd already have lost...

...

... and the kid knew it.

So what was he doing?

And... why did his arms feel like lead weights? Eyelids... heavy. Everything...

Why...

An exhaustion attack?...

Such a... ridiculous... way... to die... exhaustion... followed by... a _genin_... killing him...


End file.
